i was emotionally troubled while mixing the film….
……the words stayed with me, for long. Does it happen like this ? Emotionally troubled while mixing the film…do you get so much involved…even during mixing the film…..i had heard something like this for the first time. Could not believe it. And was he talking about the same film ? Gandhi My Father. When i met Resul Pookutty (do check out his filmography here to know his range), he was busy mixing saawariya for the dvd. He told me that generally people take the film print copy for the dvd as well. But there are only few who take the trouble to change things for the dvd so that you get the best sound even in your home theatre. you change some technical specifications also, i dont remember now. He did the same for Black’s dvd and now for saawariya. Because Sanjay Leela Bhansali wants it. He is one man who respect sound…for others, sound is still the third cousin. People just dont bother about it. As i sat down with him and he started explaning me the sound of saawariya, i actually started liking the film. yes, yes…i myself could not believe it. Told him what i felt about the film when i saw it in theatre. He laughed. So, here is Resul Pookutty on the third cousin of hindi films, on black, gandhi my father and his latest project….Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire.
Over the last 12 years, from when i started, the approach towards sound has changed immensly. From the point of view of mainstream cinema. Otherwise there are many film directors and many film people who were always aware of sound, who have been doing their cinema quite seriously, doing sync sounds, sound design…even before Lagaan was done. Lagaan was considered a landmark film in that respect, in commercial cinema. Its considered a mark in case of live sound. But people like Dev Benegal, Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Sunil Sippy, they have all been doing serious films and live sound even before commercial filmmakers started doing it. Only difference is that we as sound people, we as sound designers, sound men have been accepted in the main framework of hindi cinema. Because hindi films have been pitched against films from abroad, overseas markets have opened up, more exposure, new audiences and many people have started comparing our work with the best of the world. So it had to change.
You have to accept that good sound in cinema is also a good production value. Not just good camera work, good design, good jewellery, not just costumes but good sound also. Black is a perfect example of how people at large started talking about this as a part of overall production value. I would say live sound in hindi cinema is still a fashion statement.
As a technician, as an artist, you have to keep your sanity. On one hand you are working with big house, big directors, big films and big production house, which has its own limitation. On the other hand i do many films which are creatively satisfying. Creatively, i would say, i have done better sounding films than black. But people talk about Black because i changed my approach, did it in a little different way and it was acceptable. While i cater to mainstream cinema, there is another section of films that i personally relate to, there are friends who have great idea, who have no money to make and there i do far more creative work as the constraints are more. when orange is squeezed very hard, you get the best part of the juice. i try to find that balance in a year, do one big film and do two small films.
i would say boom onwards, i was accepted. it was out and out commercial film which pathetically bombed. but i had my share of things to do in boom which i thoroughly enjoyed doing and now i think you may look at boom and may enjoy it also.
the success and flop, it obviously affect us. bigger the film, bigger the flak. Sometimes its heartening to know, sometimes it frightening, because there are people in the industry and otherwise, people who are looking at your work, people who come to see a particular film because your name is invloved. so when they give a phone call and tell you what they didnt like, you r seriously affected. the flak that we get is not out in the public. but we do get flak.
But in hindi cinema, everthing that is technical excellence is related to commercial succes of the film. Thats very very sad. That only happens in hindi cinema whereas in abroad, in europe or hollywood, its not that. If you have done technically fine job whether the film is hit or flop, you are acknowledged by the guild, by the assocaition and the communtity. Here everything is related to glamour. If the film has flopped, you work also has flopped.
In the last one year the few films that i have done, people have appreciated so much. i am getting work from outside because of them. but its not acknowledged here. That way you feel little disappointed but then its part of the game. If the sound designing is good, you will notice it. If its not good, you will not notice it. when black was released, i got phone calls and smses from people whom i dont know. they realise that there is something different in the film. People may not be able to decipher what exatly is that. but good sound design does that….it enriches the experience. Everything that we are doing, it may not be apparent to you. We are always working on the subconciuous mind. We are not tangible in that level like a frame is tangible. No sound in a film is accidental. Everything we have consciously put it, in a particular perspective, particular level, in a particual level so that it emulates a particular emotion.
In Gandhi My Father, what i have done…i think thats one of my finest work. Its based on Gandhi’s personal life and what i read about Gandhi was that he was a simple man. Simplicity was his motto. He can sum up his life like that. Thats what he lived for. So i wanted the whole sound design of the film to be very simple. i didnt want the sound to overpower, to come out, like ok there is some good sound. No. i wanted to be backstage. i wanted to remain where i was. the challenges that i faced was that it was a period film, it was live sound, so starting from early 1900 to 1948, it was period film shot on contemporary locations in india and south africa. so in today’s scenario, you have so many new sounds like people talking on mobile, traffic jam in every nook and corner, in that scenario to get a feel of old, a texture of that era, what it was fifty years ago it…was a great challenge. the situation that we were dealing with, it was very emotional. So i had to handle the emotion of the story, the drama of the sequence, techinically handle the noise factor – one level of issue.
The other level of issue was dramatic level…to keep that intact. Plus be very truthful and genuine to Gandhi’s film.
Gandhi My father was one of my most emotionally troubled film. i mean i got emotional. i wept. i ws emotionally troubled while mixing the film. there is lot of me in the film. so i tried to get a particular texture, there is a kind of ageing in Gandhi’s voice from young to old days.
we worked with that on actors and then on mixing stage, it involved lot of multi-microphoning and lot of multi-track recording and effectively using that.
Also it was was a film which was in dual language. We took one shot in hindi and then in english. One shot in hindi would not sound like that one shot in english. so we worked on that… the sound of the languge. the rhythm of the language. so it was one of the biggest experiment on the sound. feroze khan and anil kapoor were very supportive. they were greatly tuned with me. we mixed it outside, with some of the finest techinicains. Gandhi my father was very simple on other level. even one person to one person talking, the quality of the voice, the texture of the voice would hit you. thats the element that i worked on. like kasturba’s death and an attempt on gandhi’s life. simplicity. texture, quality. Thats it. when harilal goes to meet kasturba…he says that everything that you are made out to be, its not because of you, its all because of my mother. Its huge sound. So many people around. Everything is natural sound. every sound is recorded on location. no much beautification which i did in some of my recently released films. Gandhi My Father was plain, simple, something that hits your heart.
Danny Boyle’s film Slumdog Millionaire is a low budget film according to their standards…its only 120 million dollar film. But very very enriching. its great to wrork with him. the camerman is the one who has shot last king of scotland (Anthony dod mantle). i am nobody in front of them, i had trainspotting poster in my room when i was in college. So i never expected that one day i will work with him. i have lot of memories of danny boyle. second time…when i went to london to mix Snip. Just before that they were mixing beach in the same studio. so i spoke to the guy who mixed beach Robert Farr. He spoke about how leonardo had come there and leonardo was a big then, just after Titanic. So lot of stories with Danny and his films.
Technically, its one of the most demanding film. Its not like how the films are being shot here.. here. He is a man who just wants to hsoot.
the format was never a concern, let it be film, let it be video camera, let it be still camera, the sequence had to be shot, the film was demanding a particular format and not the format was deciding the film.
so we shot on many kind of film cameras, more than fifty percent of the film is done on digital camera, used still cameras, thats the kind of thing he wanted. there are cameras which have been particularly designed for the film. i was put in a situation like as if i was in a technical labyrinth…to figure things out it took me a week. i had done fair amount of televison work, live shows and all, it helped me a lot. every sequence was shot on mutlple camera…..4-5 cameras, its was not like a shot was been taken but a scene has been shot….over many times. sometimes the camera, sound, sometimes every thing put together, in trains, in cars, bombay streets, traffic junctions, locations, sets. we were like everyday dealing with challenges of one kind or other.
i look at sound as an art. my approach is always like that. Like sound as an art , have done sound art work installations. so i am looking at overall picture of sound. probably how a painter looks at a scene, life he would look at when he is given a camera, i look at microphones as my instruments at one level. they record things and then you play with them.
Tags: Medium, Production
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gandhi my father is a fantastic film, i don know why ppl many over here dispute over its content
we always try to give our take on a film neglectin wht directors intentions were
someone has made a film appreciate
discuss
argue but never turnaround and say he must have done this scene in this way,
@Sunny,
GMF introduced us to always laughing Gandhi ala laughing budha, a dimpled Gandhi ala dimpled SRK:d
thats the biggest contribution of the film apart from all technical competency, which via Phoenixnu is reaching to us, readers.
Great Article.. Insightful..
Are you sure its 120 million dollar film.. I think you meant only 20m ?
Thank god for mainstream cinema waking up to sound design … ’sound’ sound design!!!!!!
Thanks Phoenix
Very good article.
Resul is arguably the best in Bombay if not India. And it shows in his resume.
MIXED DOUBLES
RAGHU ROMEO
SNIP
BLUFFMASTER
More power to Sound & Resul!
hats off to rasul^:)^^:)^^:)^
BTW, KAAL(2005)had good sound effects… Dwark Warrior????
Hey, Back on pfc after a long time and what an article to start of with. hail rasul. thanx phoenix.
hey phoenixnu,
Enjoyed reading your conversation with Resul… btw i hope you are fine…
Hi,
I happen to read this article based on a conversation i had long ago,actually very not long ago!i was surprised.I never knew that such a feature existed on my conversation.Thank u very much for featuring it.
Interesting to read other’s notes on my observation.
Mainak,i hope i’ll live up to all ur expectations!
Doing sound for my films,wheather small or big is my personal journey.Sometime it involves roaming around streets and Jungles for some ambience that i need,which is there in the back of my mind,but can’t get a hold of it! Search! record,listen,edit,scrap the entire thing and start all over again, you know,its a never ending pain and suffering,sometime very enjoyable sometimes long drawn.Like Kieslowsky said,Film making is all about,sometimes getting up at 6 in the morning when ur ass is freezing off!,bt u hve no choice….”
making sound for me is like that.
Hear things that others are not hearing.Finding a new way of listening,sharing it with my audience. When somebdy calls me once they see film from somewhere in the corner of the world,for me a conversation is complete!!
So truely, i get very emotionally involved with d sound of my film!
I think im giving a lot of Gyaan.sorry.
Thanx a ton for feauturing this excerpts of my conversation and many more thanx for sharing ur views.
regards,
Resul Pookutty
@resul…thnx n pls pls continue with all your gyaan. we dont mind that at all…whenever wherever..all ears for ur sound and gyaan!!
Hai Resul,
I dont know whether you will read this!!
I was surprised whan one young student (from MSM)asked me, you came to this position after studying at MSM (miracle, he might have thought), Now I began to think, what he would have thought about you, when you started getting returns for your pain? You are the real slumdog millionare, resul. Feeling very proud to be your batchmate and been known to you.
srinivas g